– Thanks to a combination of The Holidays, a (mostly) clip show and rampant winter illness it’s been half a month since our last NXT report. You should support this one! Clicking share buttons makes my body work properly, which produces reports. It is science.

– If you enjoy the Best and Worst of WWE NXT, make sure you’re reading our ongoing retro recap of season 1. It features Daniel Bryan without a beard, Ryback in a cowboy hat and Darren Young with Dragon Ball Z hair.

I was disappointed to hear that Kruger was getting repackaged as a Russell Brand-type character, since I really dug his Kraven the Hunter/disturbed mercenary war criminal gimmick, but he’s been having consistently good matches lately, and NXT rarely disappoints.

I definitely love how Regal has started just flat out shooting down Riley’s stupid nonsense.

It’s also telling of NXT’s quality that they can make something that would otherwise be thoroughly stupid like a sing off so entertaining, though I’d say a large part of that is because English and Big Cass are such fun characters.

Holy shit, I thought Brandon was just screwing around when he said “Russell Brand gimmick,” but it’s legit? Maybe one or two NXT writers have been called up to WWE lately (explaining the end of RAW breakdown before the unification match, and the DBry-Wyatts conclusion to last week’s show), while a couple of WWE guys got sent back down and they’re basically Alex Riley-ing the Writers’ Room.

I see you’ve been ill, so it’s all good, but I was really hoping you would include your thoughts on Regal vs Cesaro from the Christmas show (and also Renee’s awesome dress from said show). Anyway, thanks for the weekly recaps. I heart this show.

it was just something else. and it’s mindboggling that regal’s not around on actual tv. on nxt, he along with cesaro on nxt have these not just great but memorable and epic moments about as regularly as raw has total divas tag matches.

are we forgetting that RVD’s run in WWE existed at all (oops… sorry for reminding you)? his match with aiden english in NXT was pretty terrible and way worse than kofi/rusev.

“excuse to watch cameramen do kung-fu zooms on asses” made me completely lose it XD

my god, I’ve never wanted to shut down a show and stop watching it litterally from the first 2 minutes more than I did this week’s after riley’s “you wanna know what I think?! I think the crowd has all the right to say WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? because what is this WOMAN saying?! I can’t uderstand non-english!” and then after regal says how stupid that is and that there are other languages in the world and people that’d laugh at you for talking english because they don’t understand it as much, riley keeps trying to joke by saying that he doesn’t even understand regal and his accent and needs a translater for him!

1) The fact that every episode that will feature Tyler Breeze starts with the ring announcer letting us know that Tyler Breeze is in the building is a delight.

2) Who in charge watches these shows and enjoys Alex Riley? I cannot possibly comprehend how he is still calling matches in NXT, he’s terrible, William Regal obviously hates him and he’s not getting even the slightest bit better. You’re telling me that Scotty Goldman is worse than Alex Riley? Did Riley find the Big Show’s iron clad contract somehwere, forge his name to it and now he’s unfireable?

I also loved Big Cass here so much – it is a significant testament to the NXT system that they’ve found a way to make that guy so enjoyable. Also that screen cap absolutely confirms my suspicion that Big Cass was able to survive this long in NXT because the people in charge aren’t sure if he’s not just Edge with lifts

The Full Sail crowd aren’t perfect (that guy with the “FIRE THIS PERSON” sign needs to go away) but oh god I loved them so much this episode. Highlights were the perfect backing vocal “you sucks” to Big Cass’s My Girl, and their dismay and grief upon learning that Tyler Breeze had left the building.

Also, I have to mention Emma pausing after her match, mid-celebration, to try and get that one lone little bubble floating above the ring. Emma is the best.

Alex Riley is really hurting NXT. He reminds me of how much RAW is effectively unwatchable to me because of the yahoo commentators who would rather have root canals than call the action.

And yeah, as mentioned above…the first two minutes of the show are a test. First you have the heatless Rusev stuff and the crowd chanting WHAT, followed by Alex Riley SUPPORTING THIS and then Sign Guy showing his “FIRE THIS PERSON” on camera.

I really do feel WWE needs to take drastic measures with crowd control. Tell Sign Guy to get lost, find ways to disrupt WHAT and other character-destroying chants and, this is hard I know, but perhaps offer a product that an audience wants to see.

Having said all of that, this was a good NXT this week. And thanks as always for the report!

when did he say this one? is it about that kofi is a 10-time champion? is he not?! I heard him say 4-times US champ and 4 IC one with the 2 tag ones. (and this information made me hit my head in the wall 10 times myself when he said it. F*CK YOU, WWE! I don’t even curse ever, but f*ck you if kofi is a 10-time champion!)

themo, kofi is a 10-time champion though riley gave him the wrong number individual titles held (it’s 3 IC ones and 3 Tag ones). That said, don’t let his number get to you. Like Punk said to Flair (and I paraphrase), “I’d rather be a long-reigning champion once than multiple reigning champ for a couple of minutes at a time”.

sort-of true, but it’s hardly unique to kofi. ambrose is way better than him, but his U.S. champ reign is as pointless as most of kofi’s recent reigns (they have no one better they can think of, so kofi). the titles don’t matter because they’re too lazy to make them, that we agree on.

Regal nullified all of Riley’s horribleness in one fell swoop when, as Aiden English was leaving (all while taking FURIOUS bows), he said “…I still love you, Aiden!”

Also, when I saw the graphic for the main event, I thought “Hmmm, considering how Sami Zayn is the top babyface, yet he loses these big matches constantly, a good idea would be to have him win this one 2-0″ and, whaddaya know, NXT delivers. And it’s not like it’s bad that their course of action was also the first thing that crossed my mind, because sometimes (actually, more than sometimes), it’s good to take the most sensible approach. Especially when it’s something that happens in WWE once in a blue moon.

Emma vs Natalya, as well as most other Diva matches that happen on NXT really make me wish the show was just a tad longer. Basically only so that divas could get some more in-ring time, because almost every single one of them show every week that they can go in the ring, and every time the actual length of the matches leave something to be desired, at least for me.

One more thing, I really wonder what you thought on the Regal vs Cesaro match, Brandon. I loved every second of it, but wished they got some more brawling in there, á la Regal vs Ohno. But I guess when you look at both matches, it’s even better that in one the focus was a bit more on brawling, while Regal vs Cesaro were mostly catch wrestling, exchanging hold for hold throughout the match. I squealed a bit when Cesaro stomped on Regal’s head, that and the ending that followed was just SO spot on.

Why the hell are they going to repackage Kruger? I really enjoy the bounty hunter thing and he’s improved a lot recently. Can’t see how a Russell Brand gimmick would work either. Is he just going to be a generic party boy/shagger?

Women’s matches are quickly becoming the best part of NXT. It’ll be great if they get called up and are actually allowed to wrestle. Though we all know Lawler, JBL and Maggle will just call them sluts as they play musical chairs and job to Eva Marie.

My guess would be the powers-that-be think the bounty hunter gimmick is a tiny bit too similar to The Shield and wanted to change it (which is odd because I imagine by the time Kruger gets to the main roster, The Shield will have long been broken up)

And I imagine the Russell Brand gimmick is either a test of his range, or he’ll be the third member of some bizarre faction with Zack Ryder and Justin Gabriel

A few months ago, Big Cass was on his way to being forever known as little Test (or Quiz). Now, he is the singing legend who stole the spotlight from the Artiste. That is the magic of NXT: the upward mobility for cream.